Georges Köhler and César Milstein, who were awarded the 1984 Medicine Nobel Prize for their discovery together with Niels Kaj Jerne. Muromonab-CD3 was the first monoclonal antibody to be approved for clinical use in humans, in 1986. The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the system of International Nonproprietary Names in 1950, with the first INN list being published three years later. The stem -mab for monoclonal antibodies was proposed around 1990, and the current system with target and source substems was developed between 1991 and 1993. Due to the collaboration between the WHO and the United States Adopted Names Council, antibody USANs have the same structure and are largely identical to INNs. Until 2009, more than 170 monoclonal antibodies received names following this nomenclature. In October 2008, the WHO convoked a working group to revise the nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies, to meet challenges discussed in April the same year. This led to the adoption of the new target substems in November 2009. In spring 2010, the first new antibody names were adopted. In April 2017, at the WHO's 64th Consultation on International Nonproprietary Names for Pharmaceutical Substances, it was decided to drop the source substem and from that meeting onwards, it is no longer used in new antibody names. The revised nomenclature was published in May 2017. The difficulty in capturing the complexity and subtleties of the many methods by which antibody drugs can be produced is one of the reasons that the INN dropped the source substem, as is the need for creating more clearly distinguishable names. The 2021 revision, published in November 2021, replaced the hitherto universal stem -mab with four distinct stems depending on the basic structure. Also, the target substem -li- for immunomodulating antibodies was split into substems for immunosuppressive (-pru-) and immunostimulatory antibodies (-sto-) and those targeting allergens (-ler-). Examples 1980s The monoclonal antibody muromonab-CD3, approved for clinical use in 1986, was named before these conventions took effect, and consequently its name does not follow them. Instead, it is a contraction from "murine monoclonal antibody targeting CD3". Convention until 2009 Adalimumab is a drug targeting TNF alpha. Its name can be broken down into ada-lim-u-mab. Therefore, the drug is a human monoclonal antibody targeting the immune system. If adalimumab had been named between 2009 and 2017, it would have been adalumab (ada-li-u-mab). After 2017, it would be adalimab (ada-li-mab). Abciximab is a commonly used medication